During Roy Hodgson’s ill-fated management of Liverpool, a frequent criticism was that his teams seldom won away matches. Kenny Dalglish has brought about a transformation. Now Liverpool can’t win home matches. Only kidding. But it is true that had they not dropped eight points by drawing four of

Shortly after Dennis Tueart joined Manchester City from Sunderland, his wife journeyed from the North East for a weekend to look at houses. Tueart asked Mike Summerbee to recommend a restaurant in the city and was advised to try a new place called Mario and Franco’s, where, although the prices took

With due respect to David Beckham and all that he has eventually brought to Major League Soccer, the true glamour left football in North America when the Cosmos folded in 1984. This was the club that, however briefly, captured New York and Beckham would have revelled in the atmosphere that

If England have so many wonderful young players, why did Spain and not England win the most recent European Under-21 Championship, and Germany thrash England in the final of the one before that? It was the question on so many lips after England’s double-header against Spain and Sweden, and the

A day after one of the most pointless press conferences of all time — the Metropolitan Police were as uncomfortable with the FA’s decision to let John Terry field questions as the press were frustrated by a ban on the subject of racist abuse — 90 further minutes were wasted by the captain’s 72nd

A quick trawl of the memory for a British victory more freakish than England’s over Spain on Saturday produced Scotland’s over France, also by 1-0, five years ago. It was to be repeated in Paris a year later, but otherwise the auguries are less encouraging, not only for England — although the FA

Once a club manager, it seems, always a club manager. Fabio Capello picked a team to do a job on Spain when what truly mattered was the future of England. And nowhere was this more obvious than in midfield, where Phil Jones joined Scott Parker and Frank Lampard in patrolling the space through which

At first sight, Spain’s squad for this evening was as conservative as England’s. But there is a world — and World Cup — of difference in how the groups were formed. While Fabio Capello is running out of time in which to build a winning machine, Vicente Del Bosque requires only to fine-tune. Spain

When, some months ago, Sepp Blatter announced the formation of Fifa Task Force 2014, some may have felt a refreshing blast from the past; it was a Fifa task force, after all, that helped to devise the law changes and reinterpretations that brought elements of civilisation back to the game in the

Brian Clough, when in partnership with Peter Taylor, was a genius of football management. It was as simple as that. Sir Alex Ferguson’s achievements, next to theirs, lack drama; if you were to make a film of his career, it would plod. And yet history may judge Ferguson the greatest manager in the